[Dudeman112]

You mean the parts of the world where seasonal affective disorders are a blight on their society?

Personally I severely underestimated the effect of large periods of time without sunlight, before going through it myself

[hnlmorg]

I don’t really understand why people have taken such an objection to my comment. It’s factually accurate.

I’m not suggesting that SAD isn’t a real thing either. Clearly there’s even a lot of research into it. In fact I have a few friends who suffer from it. But SAD was never my point.

the point behind my post was just stating that plenty of people do live without the sun for extended periods and thus this article isn’t an isolated incident.

And literally the only reason I made such a point was because the GP seemed surprised that someone might live that way.

Edit: By the way, I’d love to see some statistics to back up your “blight” statement. Because there’s plenty of stats that rank Nordic counties highly in happiness and good mental health despite them having longer and darker winter months.

Eg https://www.psycom.net/depression-central-html/depression-ce...

I don’t dispute cases of SAD would be higher in such countries (I haven’t personally run the figures) but equally I suspect your actual statement isn’t a fair reflection of the real situation either.

[hammyhavoc]

I'm not insignificantly of Scandi descent on both sides of my family, so I dare say that accounts for something in terms of feelings towards light. There's Cypriot, Sudanese and Ashkenazi Jewish too, but heavily Scandi.

I do enjoy sunlight, but a lack of it isn't the end of the world for me. The world keeps on spinning, I don't become dysfunctional from a lack of light, though my mood is elevated by it like anybody.

Thinking about it for a few hours, yes, I would happily go and live in a cave for a few years. Wouldn't want to spend my entire life there as I feel I'd miss out, but yes, wouldn't bother me much. I'm very comfortable with being on my own.

[kube-system]

It affects some people, but not all.

I suspect this is something that researchers would be interested in regarding the person in this article as well, given their statements.